Last Gun Alchemist

Agnes, Jeremy, Samuel, and Hugh all looked at Ezra in shock.

The campfire continued burning beside them, its flames throwing an orange glow across the inside of Emily’s tent. Outside, the forest remained dark, and the sound of the wind moving through the Winter Spruce occasionally reached them through the open tent entrance.

Nobody spoke for a few seconds.

Ezra remained calm.

"Senior Agnes saw it flash in her eyes like a vision when I came to call her."

He pointed toward Agnes as he spoke plainly.

"Senior Jeremy, Senior Samuel, and Senior Hugh, you three must have also seen it in your dreams. That’s why your faces looked pale when you walked out of your tents, but because you already guessed it was a dream, you didn’t have the same reaction as Emily."

His explanation made the others exchange looks.

It was still only a guess.

Ezra couldn’t prove that what he was saying was true.

But he had also seen the Ghost Crawler.

He had seen its image flash through his eyes despite the fact that he wasn’t sleeping at the time.

That was the part that bothered him.

If the Ghost Crawler had appeared to him while he was awake, while Emily had seen it during her dream, then there was a good chance that the creature had somehow reached every other member of the group.

That meant Emily’s scream had not been an isolated incident.

That’s why when Emily screamed, Ezra hadn’t immediately rushed toward her tent like Agnes.

He had first watched the expressions of the others.

Jeremy.

Samuel.

Hugh.

He had wanted to know whether they had also experienced something.

And their pale faces had given him the answer.

"What about me, Ezra?"

Diane lazily pointed toward herself.

Her eyes were still closed.

She was sitting cross-legged on Emily’s tent mat as if the entire situation had not affected her at all.

Ezra looked at her plainly.

"You know the answer to that yourself."

He replied flatly.

Diane remained quiet for a moment.

Then she gave a small nod.

"So, everyone saw the Ghost Crawler like he just said."

Jeremy looked around at the group.

There was a faint panic in his expression now.

"I saw it in my dream."

Hugh answered.

His voice was quieter than usual.

"But... but I woke up immediately after I saw its violet glowing eyes."

He swallowed.

His hand tightened around his spear.

"I..."

Samuel hesitated.

He looked down for a moment before finally admitting it.

"I also saw it."

Agnes nodded.

"I did too."

Her expression remained controlled, but her eyes had become more focused.

"It was the same for me."

Diane replied.

She sounded more tired rather than bothered by the dream.

"And also me."

Jeremy was the last to speak.

His answer completed Ezra’s earlier statement.

For a moment, nobody said anything.

The seven of them were now facing the same uncomfortable fact.

Every one of them had seen the Ghost Crawler.

Not one.

Not two.

All of them.

"But wait."

Samuel looked toward Ezra with a confused expression.

"What does this mean?"

His voice carried more concern now.

Ezra looked at him.

"It means it knows something that shouldn’t be in its territory, is here."

His answer was simple.

Samuel’s expression became more serious.

Ezra lowered himself slightly and placed his index finger against the mat as he continued explaining.

"The Ghost Crawler already has a grasp on what prey lives in its territory. Like the Dry Ents we saw earlier. Even underground, there were White Maws a bit far from our location during the fight with the Dry Ents, not to mention the flying birds."

He paused.

His finger remained against the mat.

"Almost all the monsters around this area are its prey."

The others listened carefully.

Ezra continued.

"That means it should already know about the creatures living around here. It should also know when something unfamiliar enters its territory."

Hugh slowly stroked his chin.

"So, does that mean the Ghost Crawler, or Ghost Crawlers, weren’t in their nest?"

His expression became thoughtful as he tried to follow Ezra’s reasoning.

"If they were nearby, they should have already attacked us."

Jeremy’s expression remained tense.

"This has gotten more serious, then."

He looked toward the entrance of the tent.

The darkness outside suddenly seemed much deeper than it had a few minutes ago.

"Then why didn’t they attack us?"

Agnes asked.

Her voice was calm, but she was clearly thinking about the same problem.

Emily was slowly beginning to calm down.

Her breathing wasn’t as wild as before, although her body still trembled beneath Agnes’s hand.

Ezra looked toward her.

"It wanted to know just how strong we were, so it can know who would be its first target."

His voice remained as plain as ever.

The words had barely left his mouth when the others turned toward Emily.

She was beginning to move.

Her fingers twitched.

Her eyelids trembled.

"Hmm..."

Emily mumbled.

Her head shifted slightly against Agnes’s lap.

Then her eyes slowly began to open.

She was hearing the worried voices of the others, but everything sounded distant and unclear.

Her breathing was still uneven.

She tried to understand where she was.

The tent.

The campfire.

Agnes’s hand holding hers.

Samuel crouched beside her.

Jeremy standing nearby.

Hugh holding his spear.

Ezra watching quietly.

Diane sitting cross-legged with her eyes closed.

For a few seconds, Emily couldn’t understand why everyone was gathered around her.

Then she remembered.

The dream.

The violet eyes.

The creature rushing toward her.

The fanged mouth opening wide.

Its body moving closer.

Closer.

Closer.

"AHHHHH!"

Emily screamed and sat upright.

Her sudden movement nearly made Agnes lose her balance.

"Ah... ah... ah... ah..."

Emily breathed heavily.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she looked around at the faces of her group members.

Her eyes were wide.

"Guys..."

She said between breaths.

Her voice trembled.

Samuel immediately leaned closer.

"It’s okay. We’re all here."

His voice was warm and steady as he tried to calm her.

Emily stared at him.

She looked at Agnes.

Then Jeremy.

Then Hugh.

She finally looked toward Ezra.

Everyone was there.

That seemed to help her breathing slow down.

Seeing that Emily was awake, Ezra stood up.

He stepped out of the tent.

Jeremy followed him.

Hugh came out after them, still holding his spear.

The three stood outside the tent beneath the cold night sky.

The campfire was still burning.

Snow continued falling around them.

The bells Ezra had placed around the camp remained where they had been, hanging from their thin strings.

Nothing appeared to be moving.

"This is really bad, then."

Hugh’s voice was tense.

"What do we do now that it knows we’re here?"

Ezra looked into the darkness beyond the camp.

"We’ll just have to be careful."

His answer was simple and direct.

"The illusion is the main problem."

Jeremy immediately began thinking about their situation.

His eyes moved toward the surrounding forest.

"I don’t think it will attack us now, not when we’re together."

Ezra said.

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Another point from the research, like you said, is the illusionary ability it has to trick its prey’s mind. So, the plan would be for it to attack us one by one."

He looked toward the others.

"And Emily will be its first target because she’s the easier one."

Hugh repeated what Ezra had said inside the tent.

"Or maybe it will be the other way around."

Ezra replied flatly.

The two upperclassmen looked at him.

Jeremy scratched his head.

"Hmm... argh."

He was clearly frustrated.

The more they thought about the Ghost Crawler, the less certain their situation became.

They had entered the Black Zone to hunt the creature.

But now it seemed as though the creature had already started hunting them.

Jeremy finally made up his mind.

"Let’s first abandon this area."

He looked toward the tents.

"We can’t stay in the same place where it knows we are."

He pointed toward the camp.

"We’re leaving now."

"Okay."

Hugh immediately agreed.

Jeremy turned toward Ezra.

"Ezra, please go and tell the others that we should begin moving now. We don’t need to sleep anymore. Let’s get to the Crawler’s nest before it can begin hunting us while we’re moving."

Ezra didn’t argue.

He simply turned around and went back inside the tent.

A short while later, he relayed Jeremy’s orders to the others.

Everyone immediately began packing.

Tents were folded.

Space Bags were closed.

Food and water were secured.

The campfire was put out.

Nobody wanted to leave anything behind that could reveal their position.

The entire process took only a few minutes.

Hugh looked toward the dark forest.

"Maybe they wouldn’t even attack us, and their plan is to wear us down before we get to their nest."

He said his thoughts aloud while tightening the straps on his Space Bag.

Jeremy considered it.

"The possibility is actually high when you put it that way."

He replied.

If the Ghost Crawler had already identified them as intruders, there was no reason for it to rush.

It could simply wait.

Watch.

Follow.

Force them to become tired.

And attack in top shape when the group reaches its nest.

The thought made the forest around them feel different.

Nothing had changed.

The Winter Spruce were still standing.

Snow still covered the ground.

The wind still moved through the branches.

Yet now, every dark space between the trees felt like somewhere a monster could be hiding.

The group finally left the camp.

This time, they ran.

Their footsteps were almost silent because they enhanced their bodies with Cognis while moving.

The snow barely made a sound beneath their feet.

Except for Diane and Ezra.

Neither of them needed Cognis to perform the movement.

They simply ran at the same pace as everyone else.

The group moved deeper into the forest.

Their breathing remained controlled, but nobody was relaxed anymore.

Samuel suddenly spoke while running.

"I still think we should give up on this mission since it’s already come to this."

He glanced toward Jeremy.

"Think about it. The Ghost Crawler already knows we’re here."

His expression was serious.

"What if we get wiped out before we even reach its nest?"

Agnes, running nearby, immediately answered.

"You know how many points we can lose if Professor Nine decides to score our Club Performance badly."

Samuel clicked his tongue.

"Tsk."

He couldn’t counter her argument.

She wasn’t wrong.

They had spent months preparing for this mission, and abandoning it now would affect their Club Performance.

But that didn’t make the situation less dangerous.

Jeremy looked toward the others.

"We can do this, guys."

He tried to motivate the group.

"We have some of the best young Alchemists among our group."

He glanced at Diane.

Then his eyes moved toward Ezra.

Ezra suddenly stopped running.

Jeremy’s words died immediately.

He stopped as well.

The others noticed.

Their footsteps gradually came to a halt.

Samuel looked toward Ezra.

Agnes stopped.

Hugh tightened his grip around his spear.

Diane stood quietly, her eyes narrowing slightly.

Nobody knew why Ezra had stopped.

The forest around them was silent.

Snow continued falling.

Jeremy looked toward him.

"Ezra, why did y..."

Bang!

A gunshot exploded through the forest.

The sound tore through the silence.

Everyone froze.

Ezra’s body had already moved before the others fully understood what had happened.

His dull black eyes remained locked on the direction he had fired.

Samuel looked completely horrified.

Emily was the same.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Hugh shouted, his voice filled with terror and disbelief.

Agnes froze completely, unable to understand what had just happened in front of her.

Diane simply looked at the scene with her half-open light-blue eyes.

Ezra’s eyes narrowed.

The person lying in the snow was Jeremy.

Ezra had shot him.

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